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"Something we've done here at UW is to increase
enrollment in our doctoral program [for] the ones who
usually end up being educators and researchers,"
Katz said. "If we take in more doctoral students
now, we'll have more prepared in the future for faculty
positions."
The school now takes 20 students annually into the
doctoral program, compared to 12 students five years
ago.
When it comes to clinical faculty, the school has initiated
arrangements with the University of Washington Medical
Center, Harborview Medical Center and the VA Puget Sound
Health Care System.
For medical centers, a benefit of supplying the school
with master's-prepared nurse instructors is the possibility
that students will be drawn toward working at that institution
after graduating.
Mary Hampton, MN, RN, associate deputy director for
nursing services at the VA, said the government hospital
places nurses in academic settings at various medical
schools around the country to fill gaps and help get
more nurses into the workforce.
The Washington program, she says, has been presented
as a shared model that could be adopted nationally.
The VA has one agreement with Seattle Pacific University,
where the school's faculty comes on-site, giving instruction
so associate degree nurses can earn their BSNs at their
workplace.
The VA also has a nursing staff that fills clinical
instructor positions at the various schools. "We
have people with Ph.D.s and master's degrees who like
to get involved in the educational process," Hampton
said. "And there's a mutual benefit to be gained
if we prepare them because they're then ready to work
in our system."
The bottom line in supporting the educational efforts
of schools is to graduate more nurses at all levels.
"It's nice to know you're involved with something
that makes a difference in the profession," Hampton
said. "The nursing shortage is everywhere. It's
global."
Katz said the UW nursing school has about 160 students
in its two-year junior and senior level BSN program,
up from 64 students eight years ago. While budget and
funding restraints have kept the school from adding
staff and increasing enrollment, the partnerships under
which the hospitals pay the salaries of advanced practice
nurses loaned for instructional purposes have prevented
the school from having to reduce enrollment.
"We'd love to increase the enrollment, but, in
the meantime, these programs have prevented a decrease,"
Katz said.
In California, Kaiser Permanente has established programs
with dozens of nursing schools in which it loans faculty
and expertise, an example being an advanced anesthesiologist
option in the master's program at California State University,
Fullerton.
"Kaiser provides a lot of infrastructure and clinically
prepared and, sometimes, nationally renowned faculty
to teach the clinical component of the course,"
said Christine Latham, DNS, RN, a professor and dean
of the School of Nursing at CSU Fullerton.
The school also partners with Kaiser in a distance
program at eight sites throughout the state that is
open for community nurses who want to obtain BSN degrees.
The part-time program has attracted 140 students.
Latham said other partnerships with nearby medical
facilities that loan or donate instructors has resulted
in a dramatic increase in the number of nursing students
who will graduate in the near future. The undergraduate
class has jumped from about 60 FTE students in 1998
to the present enrollment of 220.
"About 80 percent to 85 percent of our students
go on to graduate study," Latham said. "So
I think we're helping increase the number of potential
faculty for the future by getting them master's-prepared,
particularly for the community college level and the
clinical specialty level instructor roles."
One leading expert on the nursing and faculty shortage,
Kathleen Dracup, DNS, RN, a professor and dean of the
School of Nursing at the University of California, San
Francisco, said nurse educators are retiring faster
than positions are being filled, creating faculty shortages
ranging from 7 percent to 15 percent at universities
nationwide.
At UCSF, like other schools around the nation, a variety
of programs try to attract and retain graduate-level
instructors and tenured faculty with doctorate degrees.
Full-time faculty members do receive incentive pay at
UCSF and a program is in place to lure retired professors
back to the classroom on flexible schedules. The school
also recruits professors from other disciplines-economists,
statisticians, psychologists, sociologists-to teach
in nonclinical areas.
Disparity in salary also is a problem, Dracup said.
Nurses with specialty degrees average only about $55,000
in base pay as an assistant professor and, depending
upon their expertise, could demand $70,000 to $100,000
or more in clinical settings.
While UCSF does have a higher compensation package
to help offset the industry lure, many schools in high-cost
urban areas that may not have the resources to give
incentives face the same problem.
"It's not a doom-and-gloom picture entirely,"
Dracup said. "The intellectual rewards and lifestyle
benefits are stupendous, and those attracted to faculty
positions recognize the incredible pleasure that comes
from teaching the next generation of nurses."
Contact John Leighty at johnsan@aol.com
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